Dynamic project and workflow management for design processes in chemical engineering

Abstract

Design processes in chemical engineering are hard to support. The design process is highly creative, many design alternatives are explored, and both unexpected and planned feedback occurs frequently. Thus, it is inherently difficult to manage the workflow in design processes, i.e., to coordinate the effort of experts working on tasks such as creation of flow diagrams, steady-state and dynamic simulations, etc. Conventional project and workflow management systems support the management of design processes only to a limited extent. In contrast, the management system AHEAD is designed specifically for dynamic design processes.